BY GEROME DALIPE & RUBY P. SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – The tranquility of the neighborhood surrounding the Guimaras State University (GSU) in Barangay Mclain in Buenavista town was shattered by the news of a 22-year-old man who barged into the school campus and shot dead his former girlfriend last Jan. 19.
Fueled by a mix of jealousy and desperation, Zoilo Sereño, 22, traveled from his hometown in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, concealed a caliber .38 revolver upon entering the school campus, and shot his former girlfriend, Christine Mae Piamonte, in the head.
Piamonte, 22, a resident of Barangay Cabungahan, San Lorenzo, Guimaras, died on the spot due to a fatal gunshot wound on the head. Another victim, Ram Arlo Tacubay, 26, also suffered a graze wound on the head and a gunshot injury on the chest.
Tacubay, the musical director of the school’s Palayag Festival, is reportedly the new boyfriend of the victim.
Sereño, a casual employee of the Pulupandan Rural Health Unit and resident of Barangay Zone 6 in Pulupandan, tried to escape after committing the crime. But the school security personnel surrounded the campus and arrested Sereño.
Police are preparing the needed documents and evidence to support the filing of a string of criminal charges against Sereño before the Office of the Guimaras Provincial Prosecutor.
“Crime of passion ang nangyari. Parang plano niya talaga na saktan ang former girlfriend niya,” Police Colonel Rhea Santos, director of Guimaras Police Provincial Office (GPPO), told Panay News.
Based on the reports gathered by GPPO, the suspect and the victim broke up sometime in November last year after three years of relationship.
“Several times na sinuyo para magkabalikan sila pero ayaw na ng babae. The suspect believed na Ram and Christene ay may relasyon at maybe that’s the reason kung bakit nagawa niya ang krimen,” Santos added.
Reports showed that from Pulupandan the suspect requested from a family member who has a small bangka to travel with him going to Cabano, San Lozenzo (not a regular trip nor a regular port of entry), then he directly went to the GSU.
“Pinagsabihan na siya ng mga friends na hayaan na lang pero tinuloy niya plano niya,” the GPPO director added.
Interviewed by reporters after the shooting, Sereño admitted the crime and that he had no regrets doing it. He said he killed his former girlfriend and wounded Tacubay in a fit of jealousy.
May Sereño use as his defense the circumstance of jealousy in shooting the victims? Was it a case of a so-called crime of passion?
In the case of People of the Philippines versus Formigones, the Supreme Court stressed that rivalry “is a powerful instigator of jealousy and prone to produce anger and obfuscation.”
“The feeling of resentment resulting from rivalry in amorous relations with a woman is a powerful stimulant to jealousy and is sufficient to produce loss of reason and self-control,” the High Court said.
Although the shooting was driven by jealousy because his former girlfriend had been dating another guy, the tribunal said that such cannot be immediately considered as a “mitigating circumstance” to rule the case in his favor.
To appreciate such a defense, the High Tribunal, citing the case of People versus Muit, said the accused must establish the time when the suspect determined to commit the crime.
Second, such an act indicates the culprit has clung to his determination to carry out the offense.
Lastly, there must be a sufficient lapse of time between the determination and the execution to allow him to reflect.
In addition, the High Court stressed that, for the accused to avail of such mitigating circumstances, he must voluntarily surrender to authorities following the commission of the crime./PN
